Epic of Beowulf Essay - The Balance of Joy and Sorrow in Beowulf

The Balance of rejoice and Sorrow in Beowulf The poet Richard Wilbur expresses in his poem Beowulf unitary of many sorrows express by the original Beowulf poem Such gifts as are the triggermans hard reward These things he stowed beneath his parting sail, And wept that he could share them with no son (Wilbur 67). The heros lament of non having an heir is yet one of many dozens of sorrows in this poetic classic, which balance with numerous joys expressed on alternate pages. This essay expresses but a selection of joys and sorrows from among the almost countless number existing in the poem. Beowulf both begins and ends on the sorrowful occasion of a death, Danish pansy Scyld Scefings in the opening lines, and our heros in the gag rule lines. This fact is important in some critics classification of the poem as an elegy rather than an epic It is an heroic-elegaic poem and in a star all its number one 3136 lines are the prelude to a dirge Then the Geatish raft made ready no mean pyre on the earth one of the most moving ever written (Tolkien 38). Hrothgar, Scylds great grandson, introduces the first full measure of joy into the poem by (1) being a king beloved by his people and (2) with his construction of a spacious and splendid hall called Heorot, where he can share out among youth and old all God Had given him In the hall from each one new day there was heard happy laughter earthshaking in the hall, the thrum of the harp, melodious chant, clear song of the scop. And even a deeper, spiritual joy was available in the hall as listeners learn how the Almighty had made the earth, this bright shining plain which the waters surround. As a result of the hall, the brave warriors lived in ... ...elly a positive. Beowulfs demise, the chastising of the afraid fighters, the prophecy that the Geatas will be the object of hostility from various kingdoms, the lamentation can all this sorrow possibly be balanced by They said he was, of the kings of thi s world, the kindest to his men, the most courteous man, the best to his people, and most glowing for fame. This famous, enduring poem is thus seen as a balance of joys and sorrows from offset to end. BIBLIOGRAPHY Chickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A dual-Language Edition. New York Anchor Books, 1977. Tolkien, J.R.R.. Beowulf The Monsters and the Critics. In TheBeowulf Poet, edited byDonald K. fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Wilbur, Richard. Beowulf. In TheBeowulf Poet, edited byDonald K. fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.